Someone (an American, maybe?) remarked on my slightly partisan report of our
youth team's fine cup victory over the "manc scum virgins". Er, where do I
start? Well, arguably, there's two kinds of football supporters: those who hate
Manchester Utd, and also those who come from the Manchester area and support
"United". Both lots detest the vast majority of so-called Manchester United fans
whose only reason for supporting the club is that it's big and successful. Such
fans know little about football and still less about Manchester - they are
glory-hunting scum and there were a fair few of them at the match last Thursday.

As consumers rather than supporters, it's the glory-hunters who are ruining
football - more so than anyone else, in my opinion. That's because instead of supporting
their local clubs they buy Man Utd merchandise and subscribe to Sky (who then
pay even more money to Man Utd for screening their matches) and so the gap
between rich and poor widens further. Other clubs like Liverpool and Newcastle
are pretty bad for this too, but then there are all sorts of other reasons for
hating the manc scum in particular: the whinging and bullying that so many of
their players famously go in for; the arrogance; the apparent tendency for refs
and TV commentators to favour them, etc. All these were there to be seen on
Thursday. Add them all together and you too can hate the scum.

Of course you don't absolutely have to support your local club. But if you don't
you should have a good reason. Otherwise it's like being in love with the Spice
Girls instead of the ones you get to talk to.